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Black Smoke
Black Smoke is an extremely toxic gas used by the Martians launched from their Tripods as well as the Flying-machines. 'Description' 'Physical Properties' The Black Smoke is reportedly deadly enough that any living organism that touched it would be killed almost instantaneously; in the 1938 radio play, it said that even gas masks could not prevent the gas from killing the wearer. The Black Smoke is truly more of an aerosol as it is dense and sinks to the ground (meaning that one could climb to a high place and survive) and that as it clears, it leaves behind a black, powdery residue that is cleared away by Martians with jets of hot steam. According to the films, the Black Smoke is an unknown element which mixes with argon in the atmosphere (based on spectrometer readings) to reach its poisonous state. However, this is unlikely as argon is a noble gas, meaning it is very stable and inert and only bonds with other elements under extreme conditions. 'Deployment' The Black Smoke is stored in special canisters and fired by a cylinder-shaped device, both of which are carried in the tentacles of the Tripods as separate objects. As these launching cylinders are held separately, it has been suggested that some other device was intended to use the cylinders and they were brought out in a makeshift fashion by the Tripods. The cylinder launchers launch the canisters of the Black Smoke in such a way that it produces no smoke (other than the Black Smoke itself, of course); compressed air and electromagnets have been suggested as the propulsive device. The canisters also do not explode when they hit the ground, but rather shatter, and the smoke inside billows out. The described size of the clouds of the Smoke strongly suggests that the smoke within the canisters is highly compressed. A few lines during the battle with the Thunder-Child suggests that the flying machine also was capable of deploying Black Smoke, but whether this is done through cylinders or by spraying it out is unknown. The Martian fighting machines are described as normally dispersing the black smoke by spraying jets of heated water at them while wading through the cloud, so that we can be fairly certain the gas is either harmless to Martians, or the clouds are lower than 100 feet. Earlier notes by H.G. Wells indicate that he had originally intended the cylinder launching devices to be capable of firing cylinders that would disperse water to clear away black smoke clouds. 'In Other Media' The Black smoke is rarely depicted in other media, and when it is, it is only on unusual occasions. Black Smoke was mentioned in the Orson Welles radio broadcast, where two soldiers were firing at a fighting machine. They donned gas masks, but continued to cough, and died after some time. This would be in keeping with a blood agent type of chemical gas, but not with nerve agents, or skin irritants. Black Smoke also features in a number of comic book versions, where it often dissolves the flesh off of human bodies. Often roleplaying games will mention black smoke, but often suggest that it can be filtered through a gas mask made of a cloth soaked in water, or one may hold their breath and outrun the cloud. In Superman: War of the Worlds, the Black Smoke is fired from the tripods in canisters that shatter on impact with the ground, with the black smoke choking the people caught within it. The smoke was even enough to disorient Superman, although his Kryptonian biology allowed him to go for minutes without inhaling it, with it being so thick that not even he could see through it. A noted weakness of the smoke however was that it was so heavy it could only rise fifty feet off the ground. During the climax, a tripod fires a black smoke rocket at the fleeing humans only for Superman to catch the projectile and throw it back at the tripod, the impact downing it. In the 1998 strategy game, Black Smoke grenades are mounted, as in the novel, as secondary weapons on mk. II and III Fighting Machines, and as bombs on Flying Machines. Launchers are also mounted on defense turrets. The Bombarding Machine carries a Black Smoke mortar as its primary armament. The Tempest Heavy Fighting Machine carries a Black Smoke cannon in conjunction with a twin-linked Heat-Ray blaster. Black Smoke weapons require the Biochemical Plant to be built in a territory before they can be attached to a tripod, and the Tempest furthermore requires an Explosives Plant. 'External links' * Wikipedia:Black smoke Category:Gas Category:Jeff Wayne Category:Martian Weapons